Power and the Stone
by Atem the Dark Pharaoh
Summary: When Yager is born he is foretold to become king but is almost killed at the age of 1. When he grows up and is known as Zed he gets a request from a strange man to defeat the king and claim the throne. Will he survive? Or will he end tragically?
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

****_On a mild spring morning many years ago, a child was born in the town of Watermills, the capital of the tiny nation of Arboria. The parents, Carth and Rusa Heidro-two of the most respected citizens of Arboria-were delighted with their baby boy. They named him Yager and dreamed about the day when he would be a great man in Arboria. Their joy, however, did not last long._

_ Agorth, the king of Arboria, was a vain and superstitious man. Plans about how to retain his power occupied most of his thoughts. He worried little about attacks from other countries-Arboria was situated in a mountain range that historically had frustrated many foreign attacks-but he feared revolt from his own people, whom he kept on the verge of starvation in order to use what they produce to satisfy his own avarice._

_ Agorth often consulted Zethram, the court oracle, to receive comforting predictions about his continued reign over Arboria. During the year of Yager's birth, Zethram came to Agorth with a disturbing prediction. Appearing before the king, Zethram untied a cloth bag from his belt, removed a handful of bones from the bag, and threw them on the floor at the feet of the King. Zethram stared coldly into Agorth's eyes and announced: "The meaning of the bones is clear. A male child is born with a circle on his chest. He will grow in power until he brings down your rule."_

_ The king was outraged. He threw his goblet of wine and attacked the oracle. "Where is this child? Where?" he screamed, kicking and beating the oracle._

_ "The bones do not say, my lord!"_

_ "He will have a circle on his chest? What does that mean? Where is such a child?"_

_ "Perhaps, my lord, the child has a birthmark the shape of a circle. Perhaps the parents have tattooed such a mark on the child, as some peasants do. Perhaps he wears a medallion in the shape of a circle. The bones do not say."_

_ King Agorth called for his ministers of defense and justice. He directed them to "search out a newborn child in this land, a child with a circular mark or medallion on his chest. See such a child is destroyed."_

_ The ministers went forth to execute the king's bloody orders._


	2. Chapter 1

_**Chapter I: Invasion**_

**_At dawn a contingent of heavy armed soldiers invaded the Heidro home to find the child whom their informers identified._**"To be safe we should send scouts. Of course we should send Jordan in first."

"Of course, Sir. I'll go in and check for that child." Jordan said without hesitating.

"If you have trouble use the signal."

"I know. Yes Sir, Ma'am, Sir!"

So Jordan went in and checked every aspect of the kitchen. He found nothing so he went on to the basement._ Pretty obvious he's in the basement, _he thought. He checked but found nothing but discarded cabinets and boxes and dust. He went onwards to the attic. _Obviously they have an attic. In there must be that boy. I must find him, _he thought once more. But still only found suitcases full of dust. _The bedrooms! Of course! Silly Me! Onwards! _He thought for the final time. He looked and double checked the master bedroom and the bathrooms. Then he went to a child's bedroom and herd whining and crying. He looked everywhere and found the boy in the crib covered in blankets. He looked very cute and very much like himself when he was a baby. He had looked in pictures of himself and except for a small circular red mark on his chest he was identical.

"Ok there. Calm down. I don't want any trouble," he told the baby.

All he got back was whining. But he knew that this baby was _very_ special _indeed_. He picked up the boy and went outside to the chief.

"Got him, Chief."

"Good. You know your next task then?"

"Kill him? I will drown him in the Green River."

"Good. You mustn't fail me or you will meet my friend, _guillotine."_

"Ok I will not fail you. You and the king will see him no more as this baby."

**_Instead the young soldier would take him to his own parents, a poor peasant couple who lived on the _****Banks****_ of the Green River._**


	3. Chapter 2

_**Episode II: Mission**_

**_The child, whom the old peasant couple called Zed, had been with the couple for seventeen years, and in that time he thrived and became a masterful swineherd. _**He had just gotten his first break that day and went to the banks of the Green River (In these modern days it was called the Star's Shade River) and was enjoying the cold water on his feet and the tadpoles tickling his toes. He glanced back at the house he'd been living in for some seventeen, almost eighteen, years. Then he saw a man in black wearing a black jacket, black shoes, black pants, and black shirt. What was stranger was that he carried a black bow and quiver of arrows that seemed to glow purple in the right light, a sheathed sword at his waist. He was a very strange man. Then he walked to Zed and told him, "You are the one. The hero the oracles suggest. Take these weapons and gain revenge on the king. He killed your biological parents and tried to kill you. You have power that is over the records and you must find the ancient Philosopher's Stone and kill the wicked king."

"What-"

"Find out yourself or you'll be sorry you were ever born! Actually you already are so I wouldn't be talking."

"Oh."

"Ok you need a nickname. Let's see what do you want?"

"Let's Try ShadowShadeSlayer?

"Perfect, now look, here's a map. Take a close look and you can see pictures of the stories you hear in your childhood. Here you must go to the Skull Place and then the great Destruction Catalyst Tunnel and into the Great Caves. You must find that stone and kill the king with its power." He threw the sheathed sword into the sand and it stayed like a tower in the sand overlooking the pebble apartments. "And take this bow." He tossed the bow and somehow Zed caught it. "That bow will always return to your belt if you lose it or if you are disarmed. And same for the sword, with a plus that sword is made of diamond and if needed to hide it the sheath turns into a pen."

"Ok? Um I was the best and strongest fighter in my classes but I don't usually kill, Sir."

"Well you're the chosen so-called Overpower of Agorth, and the chosen warrior, the best. You're supposed to be king, ShadowSlayer."

**_Zed felt that he was too young and inadequate to accomplish this task, but the dark stranger recognized his hesitation and said, "Only you can act now, or Arboria will be awash with blood and tears._**


End file.
